GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Community College has long taken steps to promote diversity on campus, but a new study aims to answer a different question: Is the college a welcoming environment for all students and employees?

The college has hired Sue Rankin, a consultant who specializes in researching “institutional climate” and also works as an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, to lead the study. The project, which is expected to include a survey and focus groups, is slated to take about eight months to complete.

The college received a $30,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation to conduct the study. It’s matching the grant with $30,000 of its own money.

Williams said the study is being performed because GRCC values diversity and wants to ensure that students, faculty and staff – regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation – are having a positive experience at the school. The study is aimed at showing where improvements are needed.

“We want data to tell us where to focus or energy and resources,” he said.

Of GRCC’s 661 faculty and staff, the majority – 80.3 percent – are white, according to the college. Blacks constitute 12.8 percent of GRCC’s employees, with Hispanics making up 5.6 percent and Asians accounting for less than one percent.

Faculty Association President Frederick van Hartesveldt said he’s seen no indication that GRCC doesn’t present a welcoming environment for students and employees.

But he would like the college to take the results of the survey and improve its practices wherever possible. That not only applies to racial and ethnic diversity, but to diversity of thought – similar to academic freedom – and socioeconomic status, van Hartesveldt said.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he said. “When we get the survey back, we’re going to want to do better.”

When discussing the project at a recent Board of Trustees meeting, administrators said Rankin has done similar studies elsewhere, including Grand Valley State University.

GRCC has not had any recent high-profile incidents of students feeling they were being discriminated against.

But in 2012, a disabled student filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights alleging that “the school is not accessible for the blind, the web site is not fully accessible,” and that a teacher refused “to make accommodations,” according to a copy of the complaint obtained by MLive.

The complaint prompted GRCC to strengthen its compliance with federal disability regulations, including providing training – particularly in relation to auxiliary aids, which include services such as taped text, interpreters, open and closed captioning – to all instructors and staff who interact with students.